What Is Amazon Referral Fee Exactly?
Amazon Referral Fee is the fee you are charged for each sale you make on Amazon. This fee is taken by Amazon for the role it plays in facilitating sales as it brings the buyers and sellers together. This fee is a percentage of the selling price of an item and it ranges from 6% up to 45% depending on the category your product falls under and the sales price. Most sellers pay on average 15% as a referral fee. The exact referral fee you pay for each item you can find in the table below.
| Category |
Referral Fee Percentage |
Referral Fee Minimum |
| 3D Printed Products |
12% |
$0.30 |
| Amazon Device Accessories |
45% |
$0.30 |
| Appliances - Compact (including parts and accessories) |
· 15% for the portion of the total sales price up to $300.00, and
· 8% for any portion of the total sales price greater than $300.00 |
$0.30
|
| Appliances - Full-size |
8% |
$0.30 |
| Automotive & Powersports |
12%, except 10% for tires and wheel products |
$0.30 |
Baby Products (excluding Baby
Apparel) |
· 8% for products with a total sales price of $10.00 or less, and
· 15% for products with a total sales price greater than $10.00 |
$0.30 |
| Beauty |
· 8% for products with a total sales price of $10.00 or less, and
· 15% for items with a total sales price greater than $10.00 |
$0.30 |
| Books |
15% + $1.80 closing fee |
- |
| Camera & Photo |
8% |
$0.30 |
| Cell Phone Devices |
8% |
$0.30 |
| Clothing & Accessories (excluding Shoes, Handbags, & Sunglasses) |
17% |
$0.30 |
| Collectibles – Books |
15% |
- |
| Collectibles – Coins |
· 15% for the portion of the total sales price up to $250 (with a minimum referral fee of $1.00)
· 10% for any portion of the total sales price greater than $250 up to $1,000
· 6% for any portion of the total sales price greater than $1,000 |
$0.30 |
| Collectibles – Entertainment or Sports |
· 15% for the portion of the total sales price up to $100
· 10% for any portion of the total sales price greater than $100 up to $1,000
· 6% for any portion of the total sales price greater than $1,000 |
- |
| Consumer Electronics |
8% |
$0.30 |
| Electronics Accessories |
· 15% for the portion of the total sales price up to $100.00, and
· 8% for any portion of the total sales price greater than $100.00 |
$0.30 |
| Fine Art |
· 20% for the portion of Sales Proceeds up to $100 (with a minimum Referral Fee of $1.00);
· 15% for any portion of Sales Proceeds greater than $100 up to $1,000;
· 10% for any portion of Sales Proceeds greater than $1,000 up to $5,000; and
· 5% for any portion of Sales Proceeds greater than $5,000 |
- |
| Furniture & Décor |
· 15% for the portion of the total sales price up to $200.00, and
· 10% for any portion of the total sales price greater than $200.00
Note: Mattresses will be charged 15% regardless of price point. |
$0.30 |
| Gift Cards |
20% |
- |
| Grocery & Gourmet Food |
· 8% for products with a total sales price of $15.00 or less, and
· 15% for products with a total sales price greater than $15.00 |
- |
Health & Personal Care (including
Personal Care Appliances) |
· 8% for products with a total sales price of $10.00 or less, and
· 15% for items with a total sales price greater than $10.00
|
$0.30 |
| Home & Garden |
15% |
$0.30 |
| Industrial & Scientific (including Food Service and Janitorial & Sanitation) |
12% |
$0.30 |
| Jewelry |
· 20% for the portion of the total sales price up to $250.00, and
· 5% for any portion of the total sales price greater than $250.00 |
$0.30 |
| Kitchen |
15% |
$0.30 |
| Luggage & Travel Accessories |
15% |
$0.30 |
| Music |
15% + $1.80 closing fee |
- |
| Musical Instruments |
15% |
$0.30 |
| Office Products |
15% |
$0.30 |
| Outdoors |
15% |
$0.30 |
| Personal Computers |
8% |
$0.30 |
| Pet Supplies |
15%, except 22% for Veterinary diets |
$0.30 |
| Shoes, Handbags, & Sunglasses |
15% |
$0.30 |
| Software & Computer/Video Games |
15% + $1.80 closing fee |
- |
| Sports (excluding Sports Collectibles) |
15% |
$0.30 |
| Tools & Home Improvement |
15%, except 12% for base equipment power tools
|
$0.30 |
| Toys & Games |
|
$0.30 |
| Unlocked Cell Phones |
|
$0.30 |
| Video & DVD |
|
- |
| Video Game Consoles |
|
- |
| Watches |
· 16% for the portion of the total sales price up to $1,500.00
· 3% for any portion of the total sales price greater than $1,500.00
|
$0.30 |
| Everything else |
15% |
$0.30 |
If you sell an item in the Camera & Photo category and use the FBA program, the Shipping Cost Per Sale is $ 0. If your product does not clearly fit with any categories listed in the table, then most likely it will be categorized as Everything else. Accordingly, the Referral Fee will be 15%, and the Referral Fee Minimum will be $ 0.3.
Amazon never applies two types of commissions at the same time. This means that you will pay either the Referral Fee or the Referral Fee Minimum. It depends on which one is higher. If there are two fees approved for the category to which your product belongs, then Amazon will apply only one of them. For example, you sell a wooden spoon for $1.09 and a set of kitchen utensils for $19.80. Let's calculate how much the seller will pay in each case: Referral Fee (15%) and Referral Fee Minimum ($0,30). See the table for a better understanding of how to calculate correctly the amount that Amazon will charge you.
| |
Wooden Spoon |
Kitchen utensils |
| Price |
$1.09 |
$19.80 |
| Referral Fee (15%) |
$0.16
does not apply because it's less than $0.3
|
$2.97 |
| Referral Fee Minimum |
$0.30 applies because it's more than $0.16 |
does not apply
|
How to Calculate Amazon Referral Fee?
Here’s an example of how to calculate Amazon referral fees.
Let's assume you are selling a shirt that is listed under the Clothing & Accessories category on Amazon for $100 with a referral fee of 17%. To get the exact amount you are paying as a referral fee;
$100 x 0.17 = $17 referral fee.
If you are shipping it yourself as a merchant (FBM) or Amazon fulfills the order (FBA) you still pay the referral fee.
If you fulfill the order yourself your referral fee becomes a combination of the percentage of the sales price plus the percentage of the shipping amount you are charging. In the instance above if the shipping charges is $2.25 the referral fee becomes;
($100 + $2.25) x 0.17 = $17.38 referral fee.
Amazon Minimum Referral Fee
Some may ask: does Amazon has a minimum referral fee?
The answer is YES. Amazon has a minimum referral fee that is assigned to some and not all categories.
The minimum referral fee is $0.3. If you sell items from categories Software, Video & DVD, Music, and others, there is no minimum referral fee there. Look at the
Variable Closing Fee
For all products that sold under the Media category, Amazon charges an additional flat fee of $1.80. This is called the variable closing fee and it is added to the referral or minimum referral fee you are charged. Items listed under the media category includes:
- DVD;
- Videos;
- Books;
- Music;
- Computer software and Video games;
- Video game consoles.
You should know that regardless of the type of account you have or the method of fulfillment, you are required to pay the referral fee on every sale made on Amazon.
Types of Amazon Seller Account
Amazon avails two types of account options to sellers. Each account offers features that can accommodate the specific needs of both small and large-scale sellers and each come with specific Amazon seller fees.
Amazon Individual Seller Account
This account is mainly suitable for occasional and small-scale sellers. This account is easy to set up and there’s no monthly fee involved. As an individual seller, you are required to pay $0.99 for each product sold. This account is very limited and offers very few features;
- Restricted to 40 product sales per month.
- List products individually and limited to certain categories.
- No access to inventory management.
- Can’t run promos or offer gift wraps.
- Pay $0.99 on each sale.
So, if you have an individual account, do not forget to add $ 0.99 for each unit sold when calculating the commission.
Amazon Professional Seller Account
The pro account is suitable for large-scale sellers. It is designed to meet the needs of businesses and large-scale retailers. As a Pro Seller, you are required to pay a monthly fee of $39.99 to enjoy the numerous features offered by this account type. Operating the Amazon professional account gives you access to lots of features:
- Unlimited amount of product sales and listings.
- Access to run promotions.
- Bulk products uploads and almost unlimited categories to sell in.
- Access to inventory management features.
- Able to offer gift wraps.
- Pay a monthly fee of $39.99 not regarding the number of sales.
- Able to connect to e-commerce and other management platforms.
It is advisable to go for the Individual Seller account if you are a new seller as there is no up-front cost involved. For well-seasoned Sellers, the Professional Seller Account is the best fit. However, as an individual seller whose sales margin exceeds 40 per month, you should upgrade to a professional account and enjoy all its benefits.
Referral Fee When Using Discount Coupons
The referral fee changes if you offer your products at a discount. Amazon charges your referral percentage at the price the item is sold and not the price at which it was listed. If your products are sold at a discount you are charged at a discounted percentage.
In an instance where you usually sell a bathing soap for $20 and your referral fee is 15% it equals $3, but when you offer a 30% discount to your customers that they get it for $14, at a 15% referral fee you’ll be charged $2.1.
Now you know everything about commissions on the Amazon marketplace and will be able to correctly calculate your profit from the sale of goods.
Amazon saves you from going through the hassle of searching for buyers and the cost incurred on marketing your products if you were selling on your personal website when you trade on their platform.
Amazon takes credit for almost half of the online sales that take place in the US. It gets a whopping 44% of all web shopper searches in the US, selling over 2 billion products annually and generating over $80 billion in revenue. Despite the various fees on the Amazon marketplace, it should be your number one go-to place if you are looking to hit a large population of online shoppers and make amazing sales.
Amazon is a major online marketplace for online retailers to sell their inventory and understanding the various Amazon fee categories will help you get more out of this online trading platform.